The U.S. Interior Department today recommended expanded oil and natural gas drilling on 48 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Virginia and in parts of Alaska including Bristol Bay.
The proposal, first unveiled in February 2006, follows U.S. Congressional efforts to respond to rising energy prices. The five-year drilling plan would give offshore energy producers, such as Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp., access to more resources. Congress last year approved drilling in 8.3 million acres in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
The plan opens 32 million acres off the coast of Alaska, including parts of Bristol Bay, a major salmon fishery. U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the Bristol Bay lease sale would take place near the end of the five-year period to allow time for a review of potential impacts on wildlife.
``There's a question about a particular species, the right whale,'' Kempthorne said today at a press conference in Washington. ``It might take three and a half years, and I don't know what the outcome will be, but we're going to undertake it.''
The proposal would also allow drilling off the coast of Virginia on the outer continental shelf, provided Congress chooses to end a decades old drilling moratorium. Kempthorne said he has discussed the idea with Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine and members of the state's Congressional delegation. The plan includes a 50-mile buffer zone off the Virginia coast and a no- drilling zone near the Chesapeake Bay to protect shipping routes.
Drilling Off Virginia
Virginia, ``at some point, may make the decision that they would like to further this concept,'' Kempthorne said. ``It doesn't mean that that is the final outcome.''
Parts of the plan prepared by the U.S. Minerals Management Service, a division of the Interior Department, already face opposition in Congress. Representative Maurice Hinchey last week introduced a bill that would reinstate a Congressional moratorium on drilling in Bristol Bay, an area environmentalists say is among the world's richest salmon fisheries.
``The Interior Department's own economic projections make it clear that oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay would only bring in a fraction of the $2 billion a year currently generated from the bay's fisheries,'' Hinchey, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement last week. ``The need for oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay simply doesn't exist.''
Since the Bush administration recommended greater access for drillers last year, public comments have been ``overwhelmingly positive,'' said Tom Moskitis, a spokesman for the American Gas Association. President George W. Bush placed part of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico covered in today's proposal off limits in July 2001 after his brother, then Florida Governor Jeb Bush, raised concern about the impact on tourism.
Congress Controls Process
``We support wholeheartedly the entire plan, including the Virginia part,'' Moskitis said. ``People have got to remember the Virginia and Alaska portions are still subject to the annual Congressional appropriations process.'' Congress uses its appropriation powers to enforce drilling moratoriums by extending or withholding funds for the Minerals Management Service to drill in designated areas.
The proposal schedules a lease sale off the Virginia coast in late 2011, depending on whether the Congressional moratorium is lifted. Companies may explore resources off the coast of Virginia with seismic measuring equipment but may not drill until the Congressional ban and a Presidential moratorium are lifted, said Johnnie Burton, director of the Minerals Management Service.
There are 1.7 billion acres in the U.S. outer continental shelf providing 20 percent of domestic gas supplies and more than 25 percent of oil, Kempthorne said. The five year plan proposes 21 lease sales beginning later this year in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico.
More Balance
``We would just like to see more balance rather than the drill-first approach we've been seeing,'' said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, an advocacy group in Washington. ``I would rather us come up with some demand reduction strategies. We're pretty darn inefficient.''
Last week, the gas association, when recommending more drilling, said high U.S. natural gas prices since 2000 have led to a steep decline in demand by homeowners. Gas futures in New York have averaged $5.70 per million British thermal units since 2000, more than double the average in the 1990's. Today's drilling proposal largely mirrors the draft announced last year, Moskitis said. Gary Strasburg, a spokesman for the minerals services, declined to offer further details ahead of a scheduled afternoon press conference. Earlier this year, the Bush administration raised the royalty rate for producers drilling in federal waters by 33 percent to 16.7 percent. At the same time, Bush also lifted a presidential ban on drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay.
The proposal, first unveiled in February 2006, follows U.S. Congressional efforts to respond to rising energy prices. The five-year drilling plan would give offshore energy producers, such as Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp., access to more resources. Congress last year approved drilling in 8.3 million acres in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
The plan opens 32 million acres off the coast of Alaska, including parts of Bristol Bay, a major salmon fishery. U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the Bristol Bay lease sale would take place near the end of the five-year period to allow time for a review of potential impacts on wildlife.
``There's a question about a particular species, the right whale,'' Kempthorne said today at a press conference in Washington. ``It might take three and a half years, and I don't know what the outcome will be, but we're going to undertake it.''The proposal would also allow drilling off the coast of Virginia on the outer continental shelf, provided Congress chooses to end a decades old drilling moratorium. Kempthorne said he has discussed the idea with Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine and members of the state's Congressional delegation. The plan includes a 50-mile buffer zone off the Virginia coast and a no- drilling zone near the Chesapeake Bay to protect shipping routes.
Drilling Off Virginia
Virginia, ``at some point, may make the decision that they would like to further this concept,'' Kempthorne said. ``It doesn't mean that that is the final outcome.''
Parts of the plan prepared by the U.S. Minerals Management Service, a division of the Interior Department, already face opposition in Congress. Representative Maurice Hinchey last week introduced a bill that would reinstate a Congressional moratorium on drilling in Bristol Bay, an area environmentalists say is among the world's richest salmon fisheries.
``The Interior Department's own economic projections make it clear that oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay would only bring in a fraction of the $2 billion a year currently generated from the bay's fisheries,'' Hinchey, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement last week. ``The need for oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay simply doesn't exist.''
Since the Bush administration recommended greater access for drillers last year, public comments have been ``overwhelmingly positive,'' said Tom Moskitis, a spokesman for the American Gas Association. President George W. Bush placed part of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico covered in today's proposal off limits in July 2001 after his brother, then Florida Governor Jeb Bush, raised concern about the impact on tourism.
Congress Controls Process
``We support wholeheartedly the entire plan, including the Virginia part,'' Moskitis said. ``People have got to remember the Virginia and Alaska portions are still subject to the annual Congressional appropriations process.'' Congress uses its appropriation powers to enforce drilling moratoriums by extending or withholding funds for the Minerals Management Service to drill in designated areas.
The proposal schedules a lease sale off the Virginia coast in late 2011, depending on whether the Congressional moratorium is lifted. Companies may explore resources off the coast of Virginia with seismic measuring equipment but may not drill until the Congressional ban and a Presidential moratorium are lifted, said Johnnie Burton, director of the Minerals Management Service.
There are 1.7 billion acres in the U.S. outer continental shelf providing 20 percent of domestic gas supplies and more than 25 percent of oil, Kempthorne said. The five year plan proposes 21 lease sales beginning later this year in the Western and Central Gulf of Mexico.
More Balance
``We would just like to see more balance rather than the drill-first approach we've been seeing,'' said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, an advocacy group in Washington. ``I would rather us come up with some demand reduction strategies. We're pretty darn inefficient.''
Last week, the gas association, when recommending more drilling, said high U.S. natural gas prices since 2000 have led to a steep decline in demand by homeowners. Gas futures in New York have averaged $5.70 per million British thermal units since 2000, more than double the average in the 1990's. Today's drilling proposal largely mirrors the draft announced last year, Moskitis said. Gary Strasburg, a spokesman for the minerals services, declined to offer further details ahead of a scheduled afternoon press conference. Earlier this year, the Bush administration raised the royalty rate for producers drilling in federal waters by 33 percent to 16.7 percent. At the same time, Bush also lifted a presidential ban on drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay.
Absent intervention from Congress, the leasing program goes into effect on July 1.
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